Samantha Arevalo grew up in Macas, Eduador. With the dense rainforest and the Upano River close by, Arevalo's parents decided she should learn to swim. At age four her parents took her to the pool in her small city to learn, but she also took to swimming in the river. Arevalo quickley developed in to a distance swimmer and began to gain attention at the national level. In 2010 she was named Swimmer of the Year by the Ecuador Swimming Federation and in 2015 she was named the Ecuadorian Swimmer of the Year by the National Olympic Commitee of Ecuador.
In 2016 she will become the first female athlete of her country to swim in the open water event in the Olympics.
2012 Olympic Games
In her first Olympic games, Arevalo competed in the 800 meter freestyle. She finished 29th in the heats.
Switching to Open Water
Open water was a natural choice for Arevalo who grew up swimming in the Upano River. But the sport was relatively unknown in the country. Her switch to open water happened when she moved to Cuenca in 2013. Her first international experience in the event came the same year in Argentina at a leg of the FINA 10k …

Nine athletes, led by China’s Xin Xin, qualified to for the women’s marathon 10k swim in Rio earlier today. They will join the top 10 swimmers from the 2015 FINA World Championships and another 5 continental representatives in Rio.